JOHNSTON, RI (June 14, 2018) – The Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) has named Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation (Resource Recovery) winner of the 2018 Gold Excellence Award in the Awareness Campaign category. This is the highest award given for an awareness campaign by the industry association. The Excellence Awards Program recognizes the creation and implementation of outstanding education campaigns relating to solid waste management across North America. The award will be presented at SWANA’s annual conference, WASTECON®, on Wednesday, August 22, 2018, at the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville, Tennessee.

“Since our inception, Resource Recovery has been committed to educating Rhode Islanders about proper recycling,” said Joseph Reposa Executive Director of Resource Recovery. “I am proud to be part of such a talented team and it is an honor to be recognized by SWANA for our efforts. We look forward to increasing the public’s awareness of the importance of recycling right.”

After widespread conversion to automated recycling collection, contamination in Rhode Island’s mixed recycling reached an all-time high. Resource Recovery’s Let’s recycle RIght!® campaign aimed to simplify and standardized messaging used to raise public awareness about recycling right. Resource Recovery partnered with the nonprofit organization Recycle Across America and adopted their Let’s recycle Right!® campaign and standardized label solution to bring greater awareness to the importance of proper recycling and to make it easier for the public to do so.

“We’re thrilled that Rhode Island has been the first state to begin implementing the society-wide standardized labels for their recycling bins and to adopt our Let’s recycle right!® campaign,” says Mitch Hedlund, Executive Director of Recycle Across America. “Rhode Island clearly understands that, similar to standardized road signs throughout society and messaging about driving safely, it’s critical that we begin making the instructions and messaging about recycling standardized for people to be able to do properly across the country if we want recycling to succeed. We value their leadership in the national mission and we congratulate them for winning the SWANA Gold Excellence Award.”

With the help of several notable Rhode Islanders, including Lt. Governor Dan McKee and Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea, RI’s Let’s recycle RIght!® campaign launched in July 2017. Campaign highlights included over 390,000 bilingual mailers, radio ads, digital and static billboards, online banner ads, and social media posts via Resource Recovery’s Facebook and Instagram page. Elements of the campaign were seen across the Ocean State over 26 million times, and when compared to the same time period a year earlier, tons of recycling rejected from Resource Recovery’s Materials Recycling Facility decreased by 18%.

About Rhode Island Resource Recovery Corporation
Resource Recovery is the quasi-public agency dedicated to providing Rhode Islanders with safe, environmentally compliant, clean, and cost effective waste and recycling services. The agency operates the state’s Materials Recycling Facility, Leaf and Yard Compost, Eco-Depot, and Central Landfill, and provides free programs and services to help the RI community manage materials more sustainably.

Check out Resource Recovery on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube to learn more about waste reduction, recycling, composting and proper waste disposal.

About Recycle Across America
Recycle Across America (RAA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, which has developed the first and only society-wide standardized labeling system for recycling bins to help eliminate the public confusion surrounding recycling. RAA and the standardized labels have been identified as a world-changing solution by Ashoka Global Innovators for the Public and have been referred to as "... one of the top environmental fixes taking root today" by the New York Times. This initiative represents what can be accomplished when simple solutions are implemented making it easier for society to act on their good intentions. For more information, visit www.recycleacrossamerica.org.

About SWANA
For more than 50 years, the Solid Waste Association of North America has been the leading professional association in the solid waste field. The association serves more than 10,000 members throughout North America, and thousands more with conferences, certifications, publications and technical training courses.